The Intern
by iWantARocketshipToMars
Summary: The ARC is still recovering, and the team is working overtime to get everything back to normal. The Ministry decides to interfere and hire a person to help, but the team doesn't exactly get what they bargained for. What could go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Jess Parker brushed the hair out of her eyes as she looked at the screen of the anomaly detection device. It was a relatively normal day at the A.R.C. At seven in the morning, it was very quiet around the office, the only people there being Jess, overnight security, and the cleaning crew. The only reason that Jess had come in early that particular morning was to get all her paperwork done before the chaos of her co-workers began. The past year had been utter madness. Ever since all the anomalies had closed, the team had been working overtime to get everything back to normal, which included both returning all of the creatures that had escaped through the anomalies back to the right era and retrieving everything that went through the other side of the anomalies to the current era. The team had traveled all over the world, and were almost done with what Lester called "restoration". There were only about four anomalies left, so Jess was very happy. The only thing that she was really worried about was that after all of this, the anomalies wouldn't open ever again, and she wouldn't have a job anymore. Sure, at twenty, she had plenty of potential, but what about the others? Abby, Connor, Matt, and Emily were fine; they had plenty of skills that they could use to score a new job, but what about Lester and Becker? Lester could get a new high ranking job in government, sure, if he could impress the Minister. But Becker? The closest job he could get to the one he had now was head of mall security. Oh, Becker, she thought. Why do you have to like guns so much?

"Hello? Jess?" a voice called out. "Earth to Jess!"

Almost immediately, Jess snapped out of her daydream and started doodling on a sheet of paper, making it look like she was working. She wanted to impress the owner of that voice. Very. Badly. "Sorry, Becker!" she apologised. Jess knew that he could tell she wasn't working. For one, Becker's hand waving in front of her face was what caused her to wake up. Two, she had drawn a flower on a very important sheet of paperwork. Lovely. She gathered all the papers together, stacking them neatly.

"I was just... umm..." she stuttered. What? Jess Parker never stuttered! It was against everything she stood for! Well, not really, but she liked to make points. "You won't tell Lester, will you? He'll have my head on a stick."

"As long as you won't tell him about my little mix-up." He winked, and set a stack of papers on a desk near by. "I accidentally grabbed Connor- I mean Abby's wedding plans instead of the paperwork for that plane we recovered. They really shouldn't keep those plans lying around. Especially when it has their honeymoon plans on it."

Jess rolled her eyes. "Comic Book convention, am I right?"

"Spot on."

She laughed, throwing back her head. "Abby doesn't know, does she?"

"Not at all." Becker smiled, a very rare sight. "Speaking of weddings..."

"Yes?" Was this it? Jess thought. Was the man of her dreams finally going to ask her to go on a date, get married and have little baby Beckers?

"Uhh..." Becker looked like he had zoned out, but immediately came back to reality. "Do you think Matt and Emily will get married? Y'know, after all this us over?"

Jess's heart sank. It looked like today wasn't going to be her day after all. "Oh, umm, I'm not sure. Actually, no one can be, with those two. It's like the weather forecast. You can predict, but the prediction's never right."

She looked down at the scrap sheets if paper on her desk, which now had 'Mrs. Captain Becker' and 'Jess Becker' written all over it. Quickly, she turned it over and looked back at Becker, who was listening to the earpiece in his ear. He hadn't noticed, thank goodness. But he did look rather frustrated.

"Yes, Connor, I'll be there in a minute... No, I will not bring you breakfast!... Because you sound like this is an urgent matter and there isn't a place to get bagels on the way to the farm! Connor... You know what? I'll be there in a few minutes; keep that man from hurting you... No! I'm not bringing you another EMD after what happened last time!" Becker whipped the earpiece out of his ear in a huff, resting it in his shoulder.

"There's a man out at the farm site that's not being co-operative, and Abby and Connor need backup," Becker explained to Jess. "I told them to wait to do this later, but no, they have an appointment for a venue this afternoon. Call Matt and Emily and tell them to come, alright? Danny's got the day off."

Jess sighed. "I'll get right on it," she said, and started to ring Matt's apartment.

"Oh, and Jess?" Becker said. She turned around, a smile on her face. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe it would be her day. "I took home an extra black box yesterday." He fished something out of his pocket and set it on Jess's desk. "Thanks, Jess; you're a doll!"

He walked, almost ran, out of the A.R.C., not bothering to look back. Jess sighed to herself. He called her a doll. Well, it was a start. She was about to put the extra black box back into the system, when she noticed something. This wasn't a black box.

"Wait!" she called down the hallway. "Becker, you left your-" -the elevator doors slammed together- "mobile."

* * *

><p>At ten-thirty, the A.R.C. was just as busy as it had been when Jess had encountered Becker a few hours before. Jess was monitoring the situation down at the farm on the Anomaly Detection Device, while reading a book at the same time. The poor girl was bored out of her mind. She actually hoped something would go wrong so that she could have something worthwhile to do. She flipped the pages of her book slowly, as if seeing if they could go any slower. The clock on the wall didn't help much, either. Tick, tick, tick, tick was all she had heard for the past three and a half hours, and it was starting to get on her nerves. Maybe if she blasted it with an EMD, it would stop being so annoying.<p>

"Jess?" Lester's voice had interrupted her violent thoughts against the clock again. She turned around to see Lester holding a folder out to her. "This is the file for your new intern. I expect you'll have it read by the two, when the genius shows up."

Jess looked at the file, momentarily confused. "Umm, sir?" she asked tentatively. "What new intern?"

Lester, who had been walking back to his office, took a deep breath (why he did this, no one knew, but he did it every time one of his employees asked a question) and slowly turned around on his heel. "The Minister seems to think that one day, something will happen to one of the employees of the A.R.C., and thinks that it would be better to hire someone who already knew how to do everything. And, apparently, it means that we all get some little person to follow us around for an entire summer. Lovely, isn't it?" A sarcastic smile graced Lester's lips, but quickly faded away as he started talking again.

"Unfortunately, the government couldn't get much information other than what the person knows about dinosaurs and the military. They can't get access to it, or some lame excuse like that." Lester nodded his head and went on his merry way back to his office while Jess looked over the file. From what she could see, this person was very smart. The man's name was Austin Smith. He was a genius when it came to computers (he had written a separate application completely in binary code to improve), and looked like he knew a lot when it came to everything else. Other than that, there was no information. Nothing personal. Nothing about where he was from, family, previous jobs; nothing.

"Lester?" Jess turned back around in her chair, still looking at the file. "Have you even..." she stopped talking once she saw that her boss was back inside his office. Putting the file in a stack on the desk next to her, she decided that she didn't want an intern. Who would want a person to follow them around all day? Not Jessica Parker, that's for sure!

All of a sudden, Becker's mobile started buzzing and playing what sounded like the main song from his favourite movie, _The Terminator_. How appropriate, she thought as she smiled. She looked at the screen, which read:

_MARY_

_ANSWER IMMEDIATELY_

So, that's exactly what Jess did.

"Hello?"

"_Hey Hil_!" a peppy voice on the other end of the line exclaimed. "_Just wanted to let you know that I got a job and'll be home around eight. Don't exactly know how long it'll take for me to get home. Just wanted to let you know! Bye!_"

And the line went dead.

What just happened? Jess thought. Who was that? Whoever it was had an American accent! Oh no! Becker had a supermegafoxyawesomehot American girlfriend he didn't want anyone to know about! Figures, though. A very fit, gorgeous man had a beautiful, exciting, American girlfriend. What else would a girl be doing living at Becker's house?

She was probably wrong; her therapist _did_ say that she jumped to the worst conclusions too fast. It was probably just a wrong number. The person was asking for Hil, which was a girl's name, most likely, and had an American accent. Just some tourist who had gotten confused when they were ringing someone, yes, that was it for sure. But the number was already in his contacts, so it had to be his girlfriend he never mentioned!

Jess looked at the clock, which read eleven. The rest of the team would be coming back to the A.R.C. around noon, and, according to the sticky note on top of the new file, the intern would be arriving around eleven-thirty. Oh joy, she thought to herself. Another long day at work.

* * *

><p>"Jess? Jess? Wake up, sleepyhead." Jess opened her eyes to find her head on the A.D.D., arms thrown beside her. She yawned slightly before realising her current situation. Wait, wasn't she at work? Oh no, she had fallen asleep on the job and was going to be fired! And the intern would get her job! Oh no! The intern was probably here!<p>

"What time is it?" she asked sleepily. How late did she sleep? Ugh, the annoying ticking clock had caused her to dose off.

"Around twelve-thirty," the same voice that had woken her up told her her. Jess turned around to see Abby, standing there with her hands on her hips, a smirk spreading on her face.

"Sleeping on the job is new to you, isn't it? Here's a couple of pointers; don't drool on anything, don't talk in your sleep, or... actually, don't fall asleep on the job at all. It's horrible when you get caught. Trust me, I would know."

Jess groaned. So when Captain Becker had dumped his girlfriend for her, it wasn't real? And she had hoped that she was getting paid back for all of the good things she had done. But alas, it wasn't so.

"I'm so sorry, Abby!" she exclaimed, flustered. She turned back to the A.D.D., and pulled up files from the farm case. "I'll get back to work right now."

Abby placed her hand on top of Jess's, forcing the younger girl to stop typing. "Jess?" she said, cautiously. Jess nodded, her eyes still on the screen. "It's obvious you need to relax. Just go and tell Lester that you're sick, and go home. It's what I'd do in your current situation."

"But there's so much work to be done... and the intern-"

"- can wait a little longer." Abby laughed at her friend's dismay. Jess had always hoped that one ay, she could be as nice and smart as Abby. It was amazing, really, how different they were; how their personalities clashed so dramatically. But they were still each other's best friend, and Jess wouldn't have had it any other way. "Just be glad it wasn't the guys that found you. They would've held that over you _forever_! Or Becker; who knows what he would've done?"

Jess shuttered at the thought. If Becker had found her, she may have been yelled at by him. Or he would tease her with it for ages. Actually, she had no idea what would happen if Becker had found her. Hopefully, she would never find out.

"Abby," started Jess. "I can't just leave. I have to fix some things with the security system, and finish some paperwork, and the intern will have no idea what to do, and there's a shoe sale after work that I _really don't want to miss_." She turned back to the screen before Abby had a chance to respond to her rant. "Now, did everything go alright at the farm?"

Abby sighed. "Yeah, everything went well, although that farmer did put up a good fight. Almost stabbed Connor with a shovel. How that happened, I don't know; Connor was supposed to be in the truck until we got permission to search the area. Lucky for him, I was there and took the shovel from the man before he could puncture him."

"Yes, lucky Connor," Jess mumbled. It was then she remembered what she currently had in her possession. "Oh, look over this file. It's for the new intern the Ministry hired. You know, just in case a future predator kills one of us, this guy can take over."

Abby took the file from Jess. "Lovely."

Jess laughed. "I know, right?" She picked up Becker's mobile. "Becker's in the armoury, right?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

* * *

><p>The armoury was much bigger than Jess remembered. Of course, the last time she had been in there, she was being attacked, so she didn't really notice the size of the room. There were definitely a lot of EMDs everywhere, and surprisingly, a handful of guns that used bullets. Of course, that's where she found Becker, polishing a gun that Jess would honestly be scared to use.<p>

"Having fun?" she asked him. He jumped a little, then turned around, a smirk on his face.

"Are you trying to get revenge on me for scaring me this morning?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck. "If it is, it's working."

Jess laughed. "Of course not! Do you really think I'm that mean?"

"Yes."

Jess's mouth fell opened. So this is was the man of her dreams thought of her? That she was a mean person? How dare he! He had no right to do so!

Becker must've seen the look of hurt that crossed Jess's face. "I'm kidding," he laughed. Oh, that laugh always made Jess's day better. Becker went back to polishing his gun. "So, what brings you here?"

Jess immediately snapped out of her daydreams and back to reality. She took the mobile out of the pocket of her skirt and handed it to Becker. "I don't think this is a black box."

Becker took the device from her and sighed. "I knew I hadn't lost it! Thank you, Jess."

Jess felt like giggling like a schoolgirl. Thank goodness she had a bit of self control. But it was only a bit. "My pleasure." She was about to walk out of the armoury when she remembered about the phone call. "Oh, and someone called a little earlier. Mary, I think. The screen said to answer immediately. She said something about getting a job and being home before eight. I'm not really sure."

Becker froze, his eyes wide. It looked like someone had just told him that Connor got ahold of his favourite gun and had thrown it through an anomaly or something. "What do you mean, 'got a job'," he asked. He wasn't blinking, and Jess was starting to get a little freaked out. "Did she elaborate on that at all? Anything else?"

"Umm, no." Jess looked at her hands. "I don't think so. She just kind of hung up after that."

Becker put his head in his hands. "I can't believe she did this," he mumbled to himself. It took Jess a moment to realise that he was talking about this Mary girl, and not her. Of course, he probably would get mad at her for answering his phone without his permission. That was illegal, wasn't it? Oh, wait; that was mail.

"Thank you, Jess." Becker looked up at her, and Jess could tell that he was trying to smile, but struggling.

"No problem. Actually, I-"

"Hey, Jess," a voice said from the armoury door. A certain Mr. Temple was standing in the doorway, a strange (-er than normal) look on his face. He looked... worried, almost. "There's a problem.

Jess looked at Becker, who said that he would be there in just a minute. She smiled at him before leaving the armoury and walking back to the main office.

"Alright, Connor, what's the problem?" Jess asked when they were little over halfway there. Connor gave her a weird expression, as if he was debating whether to tell her or not.

Finally, he decided to spill the beans. "Ahh, well, not really sure how to tell you this," he stuttered, and started scratching his elbow like he always did when he was nervous. "But the new intern's here."

"That's great!" she exclaimed. "Why would that be the least bit concerning, though?"

Connor scratched his elbow again, but much, much harder this time. "Well, uhh, it's not exactly what we expected it to be."

"What do you mean by that? It's not like the guy's an alien."

It was that moment when Jess saw Abby trying to stop a young girl, who was currently spinning around in Jess's chair. She couldn't have been older than seventeen, and her hazel eyes and dark brown hair were very familiar. In fact, she looked similar to...

"Hi!" The girl stopped spinning abruptly and ran to Jess, holding her hand out. "I'm the new intern. Austin's the name."

Jess forced a smile. She knew where she had heard that accent before, the girl was clearly American... and her name, ugh, Austin... how did she not expect this to happen? She was going to be followed around by a girl four years younger than her? Her day was just getting better and better. "Hello," Jess said, trying to hold back her anger. "Jess Parker. Are you sure that you're the intern? I was expecting someone a little older... and with a little more y chromosome."

The girl laughed. "Originally, I had my real age on my resumé, but I hacked into the database where they keep all the applications and changed my name and my age so I would have a better chance of getting the job. Who's going to hire a sixteen year old girl, even if said girl is the most qualified for the job?"

_Lester, apparently, _Jess thought. How could he have overlooked this so-called minor detail? This Austin girl didn't look professional at all. Her hair was down and straightened, almost reaching the small of her back. She had on a short, colourful skirt with a strapless top tucked into it, and a cropped jacket over the outfit. Her shoes had three inch high wedges on them, which she obviously would have tripped over if she was out on the field. In fact, the whole outfit was impractical. Sure, she was dressed in an outfit that Jess would have worn on a normal day, but Jess didn't have to interact with the creatures. Totally unprofessional.

"So, what are we going to do first?" Austin asked excitedly. "Fight a deinonychus, or rescue the queen from an anomaly, or- Hilary!"

Austin ran over to the entryway and almost tackled Becker in a hug. _Hilary?_ Jess thought. _Really? I just thought his first name was Captain. Of course it's not. Ugh, stupid..._

"Mary? What are you doing here?" Becker asked. Wait, Mary? But wasn't this Austin? And wasn't Mary Becker's supermegafoxyawesomehot American girlfriend? This girl was way too young to be Becker's girlfriend. In fact, wasn't their age difference illegal? This couldn't be happening- Becker was with a girl eleven years younger than himself. Unless Jess had this all wrong, and she was just a random girl off the streets that Becker had taken pity on and brought her into his home, slowly and surely educating her to become a proper young woman. If her theory was true, the lessons weren't going very well.

"I got a job! Didn't you get my call? I explained everything!" She let go of Becker, and crossed her arms. "And how many times have I told you; my name is _not_ Mary, it's _Austin_. That's what our dad named me, and that's the name I'm going to use. It's not my fault you got an incredibly girly first name."

_Our dad?_ Jess was momentarily confused. How could she say that, unless... oh no, Jess had it all wrong...

Becker sighed, then started explaining to the many confused faces in the room. "This is Austin, my sister."

A cross between a smile and a smirk came across Austin's face. "Hello, darlings."

_**Okay, so this obviously isn't my best work, and it's not very well put together (considering that I rushed to finish it because my sister is about to steal the computer). More will be explained in later chapters, specifically in later chapters. I don't know how often I'll be updating, since it's marching season and I will be gone most of the day hoping not to run into baritones on the field. **_

_**I figured Becker needed a family, since we never really learn anything about it in the actual series. Hopefully you like it. REVIEW AND I WILL EXPLAIN MORE ! **_

_**Tomorrow's my first day of high school, wish me luck!**_

_**Au revoir, darlings,**_

_**~ iWantARocketshipToMars**_


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: So, I don't own Primeval. I also don't own a narwhal. Got it? Good.**

* * *

><p>"Alright, let me get this straight," Connor said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You are Captain Anger's little sister from the States who gets shipped across the world to Britain for four months while your parents go on a trip?"<p>

Austin looked up from her nail filer. "Yeah, pretty much," she half-heartily replied. "Oh, but daddy goes on a yearly vacay with our newest _step_-mom, and Hilary's my _half_ brother."

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Becker mumbled. Austin just ignored him. She was a smart girl, Jess could give her that. Becker was a hard person to ignore (well, in her opinion, since he was so strong and handsome and muscular... and loud), and his sister was the only one that could, apparently.

"And you got a job here _how_ exactly?" Connor asked. Obviously, it was hard for his fairly large brain to understand that yes, a sixteen year old girl could be just as smart as him. "I mean, it took me ages just to get an interview, even though I was one of the original founders."

Austin laughed for a moment, and spun once in Jess's office chair. The little brat was not only stealing her attention from Becker, bur now she had stolen her spinney chair? This wasn't right. It had to be stopped. She quickly added, "Yeah, how exactly did you get through without an interview from Lester? It took me at least three interviews, and I was by far the best choice."

Austin stopped spinning. "How did you know that?"

Jess looked at her nails, pleased with her work. "As I am the brains of the operation," she answered, "I get a file about everyone. I have one about Abby, Connor, Matt, even Becker here. I got yours this morning. I opened it just a bit, but saw the date of application. It was three days ago." Jess crossed her arms, satisfied with the look she put on the poor girl's face.

Austin, of course, had a witty comeback ready to fire, as Jess expected. Clever little thing, she was. "I'm really qualified for the internship. I have all the skills, and daddy has political power, since he has been a huge part in both the United States and the United Kingdom's military. Besides, I already knew everything I need to know. Hil told me."

Everyone turned to stare with piercing eyes at Becker. "Hilary's in trouuuu-ble," Connor sang. But he was in trouble. There was a rule around the office: they could talk to people that work at the ARC about the work they did, but no one outside. It was taboo, and Becker, of all people, should have known that. After all, he was the one that yelled at people about it.

Becker looked positively shocked. "I did no such thing, Mary Austin Becker!" was his defence. Jess felt so bad for the poor man, being turned in by his sister, and about to be chastised by everyone else. Austin rose an eyebrow, causing Becker to realise something, which he then proceeded to yell. "You... you hacked into my email back at the flat, didn't you? Oh, you're good, sis..."

"What?" Jess was about to explode. "Good? She hacks into your email, reads your personal messages, and you call that GOOD?" She stomped her foot, arms crossed as if they would never unravel. Never before had she felt so much like a schoolteacher. "Next thing you know, she'll be robbing a bank, and you'll just stand there saying, 'Great job! Keep up the good work!'"

Connor snorted, and Jess gave him a death glare. This was the farthest thing from a laughing matter! He was _encouraging breaking the law. _A man of the military! Oh, they were going to have to have a long conversation about this once they got married...

"And the fact that I can do that makes me even _more_ qualified for the job," Austin retorted. She got out of Jess's chair (which lifted a weight off of Jess's shoulders) and sat on her desk (which made her feel like Atlas. It was _her_ property, after all). "Think about it. I can hack into one of the world's most protected databases, AKA, my brother's ARC email account, and snoop around getting any information I want. I could be the person who discovers things hidden away from the public eye, the omniscient leader concealed behind a computer, the brains of the operation-"

"But that's _my_ job!" Jess yelled. Everyone looked at her. It wasn't often the girl had a tantrum, but when she did, it was worse than a terror bird hunting for you.

"Used to be my job." Connor sipped his coffee, then continued. "Then I got trapped in another era without any other humans- Ow! I was about to say with you, Abby. No need to elbow me. But yeah, your top computer specialist gets trapped in the Cretaceous, so, what do you do... I'm going to shut up now."

Austin rolled her eyes. "Ignoring that... what I meant was, this internship could turn my life around, and whether you like it or not, I was hired and am not leaving until I'm _fired_!"

"You're fired," a voice called nonchalantly from the glass office in the corner. Lester looked up from his phone long enough to see the fifteen year old girl in front of him jaw drop. "Oh, little girl, will you go get your father? I need to fire him."

Austin took a deep breath, and put on a fake smile. "Hello," she said, her voice laced with false sweetness. "I'm really sorry I didn't introduce myself sooner. My name is Austin Smith. Well, actually, my name is Austin Mary Smith-Becker, but that's a mouthful, am I right? I go by Austin Becker, but, you know, I couldn't put that on my application because then I would be accused of having a family influen-"

"The Minister just called," interrupted Lester.

"So?" Austin crossed her arms and pretended to look like she didn't care, but Jess could see a glimmer of fear in her eyes. Things were about to get good.

Lester leaned against a table. "He told me everything." He motioned to two of Becker's men. "Take her into custody, if you would. Cell 3B is open and ready."

With a quick "yes sir," the men grabbed Austin by each of her arms. She screamed cries of protest, but no one cared; not even Becker.

"So," Becker asked Lester. "What exactly did my sister do this time?"

* * *

><p>"She did <em>what<em>?" Jess asked Becker. "How's that even possible? She's sixteen! _Six-freaking-teen!"_

Becker looked at her with a smirk lingering on his lips. Obviously, he had thought she would react like this. "Then again, she _is_ my sister. And she _is_ the exact opposite of me. What else would you expect?"

"Yeah, okay, I agree with that. But _blackmailing the PRIME MINISTER! _That's impossible." Jess through her hands in the air, and stood up from her chair. Blackmailing was illegal. Especially blackmailing the minister. And not just any minister, but the Prime one. How did she even get in touch with him? Of course, Becker must've read her mind, though, because he answered within seconds.

"Mary is a very good flirt," he explained. "A very, _very_ good flirt. She apparently tracked down the Minister's nephew, and convinced him that they were meant to be together, which meant she got this job. The Minister's nephew had a lot of good family secrets to tell her, and that's what she used against his uncle. Very smart, actually."

"Smart? You call that _smart_?" Jess was infuriated. How could Becker take his sister's side? He was going against the government for crying out loud! "Becker, I don't know if you've realised this or not, but your sister is in government custody. You of all people should know that that's not a good thing."

Becker chuckled. "Of course I know that's a bad thing. I'm just saying that if she's that good at tracking down people and getting information, then maybe she'll be useful. Like, you know, getting finding out who knows what about the anomalies, getting more people to come work for us. She could be a great advantage."

Jess groaned. Yes, maybe she would be a great advantage, but she could be the new weakest link. Austin was sixteen for crying out loud; she should be having fun with friends and dating, not being stuck in a metal cage doing work. Becker must've seen her dismay.

"You know," he added. "Mary could end up taking a bit of work off your shoulders. You could be free to go do more things, and not be stuck at the office all day."

Jess twirled her hair around her finger. She knew where he was going with this. She just didn't want him to chicken out this time. "Now, where exactly would I go?"

Becker rubbed the back of his neck, his ears growing redder by the minute. "Well... umm... actually..."

"Hey, you two," called Abby. Connor waved awkwardly, and started talking, but Abby cut him off. "We're leaving to go look at that venue now. Just thought we'd let you know. will you cover if Lester asks where we are?"

Jess smiled. "Of course we will. Besides, he won't care. Go have fun." She smiled, subtly gesturing at Becker. Abby took the hint, and dragged Connor out of the room. Jess turned back to Becker. "You were saying."

Becker turned red again. Obviously, he thought he had gotten out of it again, but Jess wasn't going to let him. "I... actually, I thought-"

The beeping of the anomaly detector interrupted him, just as he had gathered up the courage to ask her what he was going to. It scared Jess half to death, since she hadn't heard it in over an year.

"What the..." Jess ran back to the anomaly detector, searching the computer for a fluke. There was an anomaly in a car park near by, which would've been normal, but now, it wasn't, since there hadn't been an anomaly that wasn't man-made in months. "This can't be happening. It's impossible!"

People ran out of their offices, surprised and terrorized by the alarm that they thought was gone for good. They gathered around Jess, who was feeling quite frazzled at the moment.

"What's going on?" she heard Matt's voice say over the crowd. "What's wrong with detector?"

"I don't... nothing!" She did a scan over everything, from security to the bills. Nothing was wrong. This was real. And it was actually happening. "Someone needs to get down there now and check it out."

"On it!" Becker's voice rang out. "Get everyone you can out there _now_!"

Everyone turned on their black boxes and headed out to the cars so they could make it in time. Jess put on her headpiece, and started barking directions to everyone. "It's about twenty blocks away... Becker, go north!"

Minutes later, she watched as the multitude of red dots travelled across the screen to the car park. "On your left, Becker." She stared as the dot in the lead started turning right. "No, Becker, your left!"

"Jessica," his voice said from the earpiece. "It's the first anomaly in a year, I'm not really thinking about my right and my left."

Jess rolled her eyes. Sometimes, the man could be so stubborn. But she loved him anyway.

"Which level?" someone said in her ear. Jess snapped out of her daydream, and back into reality. She looked at the screen, watching the dots move into the car park, and switched on the security cameras. There were people there, but none near the anomaly. "Third level. Near the west end. Watch out for those people blocking the stairwell on the second level!"

She watched the security cameras around the anomaly closely. Something could come out soon, and she didn't want to find out what. All of a sudden, the security monitors switched to the cameras in each of the cells.

"Hey! Hey, Jessie!" someone whispered. The camera slowly turned from black to where Jess could see the person. Of course, it was Austin. Lovely.

She pressed a button on the large keyboard that let her talk to the inhabitant of the cell. "It's Jess. How did you hack the system?"

Austin crossed her arms. "Jessie, Jess, same thing. And I'm a genius; of course I can hack the system. Is everyone down at the parking garage with the anomaly?"

"How did you know that?"

Austin paused, before turning back to the camera. "You don't need to know," was her smart reply. "Anyway, I need you to let me out. Now."

Jess chuckled. "Now why on Earth would I do that?"

"Because every there is in danger." Jess laughed again, but Austin looked dead serious. She tried looking around Jess (although she couldn't see Jess in the first place) to see if anyone else was there. "Where's Lester? We need to tell him so he can stop them!"

Jess was sick of this girl. Her tricks may have worked on the prime minister and his nephew, but they would not work on Jess Parker. She was nowhere near as daft as the minister. "Alright, look," she started. "Lester's at lunch, and everyone down there is a trained professional. And Connor's there. They'll be fine. They know how to handle this type of situation, and they know what to do if something goes wrong. Your brother's not in any danger."

Austin threw her hands up in the air. "Can't you see! This isn't about my brother. This is about the safety of the _world._ The _universe_, even. You have to let me out."

"Bye, Austin!" Jess took her hand off the intercom button, and shut off Austin's connection. She switched back to the security cameras. Nothing had changed, and hopefully, it would stay that way.

"Who was that?" Abby asked her. She could see Abby in the security camera now, down by the anomaly.

"Just Austin. She wanted to be let out, because you all are in 'grave danger,' or something."

"How did she get into the system?"

Jess snorted. "No idea, but it's really creeping me out. What if she got in all the files about last year? Or Helen's file?"

Abby sighed, and Jess could see her messing with her EMD. "Jess, she's in a holding cell. She has on handcuffs. And no access to a computer, There is absolutely no way."

Within seconds, something stuck it's long, large, orange head out the anomaly. It roared, sending Abby and the security team back with its breath, before returning into the anomaly.

"What was that?" Jess asked when everyone was finished reacting.

Connor came into the picture, scratching his head in confusion and despair. "I... I'm not exactly sure; I didn't get that good of a look, but it almost looked like a... an acrocanthosaurus." Abby gave him a look, which obviously meant to elaborate. "It's a dinosaur from the early Cretaceous. Before the T-Rex, I mean. It was known as the king of the dinosaurs, the ruler of all things on Earth, the-"

"Is it dangerous?" interrupted Jess.

Connor responded by scratching his head. "I mean, it preys on ornithopods and sauropods, so it's carnivorous. I don't think it'd come after us, though, unless someone provoked it or it was starving."

Abby sighed. "So that's basically an 'I don't know.' "

Jess finally decided to make a decision, as no one on the site was going to. "Just stay there for a while, and keep the anomaly locked. If it's fine in a couple of hours, then we should leave."

"Excellent idea, Jessica," Lester said from behind her. She almost jumped out of her seat, her boss had scared her so badly. "Although, I wish you would leave the decision making up to me, as _I_ am the one in charge."

Jess blushed. "Sorry, Lester. I just... I thought you were at lunch, so I thought I'd just give them something to do until you got back."

Lester smiled (sarcastically, of course, as he would never sink to such a level as really _smiling_), and went back to his office as Jess turned back to the men. "Alright, you heard him!' she exclaimed in what she thought was a somewhat commanding voice. "Lock that anomaly!"

* * *

><p>At six o' clock that evening, the team was still at the car park, and Jess was still at the ARC, a magazine in her hand and Chinese takeout on her desk. She felt like she could fall asleep, but she wouldn't fall asleep on the job twice in one day.<p>

She was bored. Again.

Of course, no one really cared, because everyone down at the car park was having a fun time listening to the radio in Becker's car and throwing chopsticks at one another for target practice. Just this once, she wished she could be down there with everyone else, having fun, and not stuck in front of a computer screen, reading how to "get your man in twelve days or less!" She wished she wasn't so scared of everything. That maybe, just once, she could conquer her fears and face something from another time, another place. Although, this magazine did seem really interesting. Getting a guy in _twelve_ days was something new.

She was snapped back into reality by a faint beeping, coming from a hallway off of the main operation room. She slowly got up, walking towards the sound. Lester had gone home about an hour before, so she was alone. She was probably just fooling herself, with all the thought about the predators. Yeah, her counsellor had said that hallucination could occur with post traumatic stress disorder.

"Hello?" she called out. "Who's there?" The beeping kept getting louder and louder, as she turned down the hallway of prisoners, as she liked to call it. She looked in each one of the cells, knowing that each one was supposed to be empty. Each one except cell 3B, that is. 'We have waaay too many cells,' she thought to herself. 'When are we ever going to need this many?'

As she passed by cell 3B, everything seemed normal. Except, it rally didn't, because the beeping stopped here. She peeked through the window, just checking. Maybe she could slip Austin some Chinese. She'd probably like that, being an American eating Chinese food in England.

But there was no one there. In fact, when Jess saw the keypad next to the door, it read 'UNLOCKED.' This was not good. Not good at all.

Jess ran back to the detector, putting her earpiece back on her ear. "Becker? I have something really important to ask you," she said, her breathing becoming more rapid by the second.

"What?" he replied with a mouthful of lo mein. If she hadn't been freaking out, she probably would've found that adorable.

"Can Austin drive?"

Becker looked stunned for a second. "Why do you need to know if-"

"Just answer the question!"

Becker swallowed his food, clearly stalling for time to think. "Yeah, I think so. She got her license in the States last year, and I think she can drive on the left side, as well, so-"

Jess couldn't listen to the rest. She put the EMD checkouts of the past twenty-four hours. Of course, at 6:03, a certain Austin Smith had used a wristband to get one.

"Who forgot to take off Austin's ID bracelet before they put her into custody?" She yelled into the earpiece. She was fuming. How could she be so stupid? Austin had on her wristband, which would allow her access to everything, from lunch in the cafe to EMDs, which also included opening doors. All doors. And getting company cars.

"Jess, it's not that big of a deal," Abby tried to explain. "She's in a tight-sealed celled. There's absolutely no way she could get out. Only authorized personnel can- Oh, no. She didn't."

Jess threw her hand in the air, and fell back into her chair. "She did. And I think I know where's she's going. Just have someone ready to lock her in a car when she shows up."

"On it."

Jess couldn't believe this. She had been outsmarted. By a sixteen year old! Not only that, but a freaking American sixteen year old. This couldn't be happening, could it?

"It's back!" a voice yelled into the earpieces. Jess switched back to the security cameras just in time to see the acrocanthosaurus dart its slimy head out the anomaly. Everyone got their EMDs ready, but couldn't find a place to hit it, since is was strutting out of the anomaly at a fast pace. "I can't shoot! I'm going to hurt it!"

All of a sudden, a shot from an EMD rang out, hitting the acrocanthosaurus' neck, and causing it to fall over. Everyone turned around to see Austin, cradling her EMD and standing there, not a hair out of place. She smirked, and looked directly at Becker.

"And that, darlings, is how you shoot an EMD."

* * *

><p><strong>Hope this was enough, after FIVE FREAKING MONTHS OF NOT UPDATING. Very sorry. On the other hand, I survived my first term as a freshman! Yeah. That's pretty much it.<strong>

**I'll try to update more now, but I have like, a bunch of Honors and AP classes that I have to do stuff for, so it probably won't be very often.**

**LOVE Y'ALL THIIIIIIIS MUCH.**

**~iWantARocketshipToMars**


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: Contrary to popular belief, I do not own Primeval. **

**A/N and APOLOGY at the bottom (that's **_**after**_** the chapter :P )**

* * *

><p>"I'm bored."<p>

"Then go do what I told you to do."

"But it sounds bor-ring."

"But that's what you're getting paid to do, Austin."

Jess was sitting at the ADD, sighing for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Austin was getting on her (and everybody else's) last nerve. First, she had shown up to work two and a half hours late ("But I was fighting off a dinosaur!" was her excuse). Then, if that wasn't bad enough, she refused to do any work. She wouldn't go to the menagerie with Abby to go check on the mammoth that had a "cold." She ignored Matt when he wanted her to help him with some research about what could be making the anomalies come specifically to twenty-first century Britain. And she nixed Jess's idea of having her organise all of the employee files. Austin was extremely difficult to work with, apparently. Jess thought she was going to explode.

"Jess? Have you found anything on the anomaly?"

Almost.

"Not yet," she replied. She quickly typed in the last code for the new security system. "Lester's had me doing this all day."

Becker frowned. "Why didn't you just get Austin to do it?"

"Because she said that her 'skills' over qualify her for such a simple job." She clicked the enter button, and the screen went back to the normal map and security cameras. "All done!"

But Becker didn't seem to be listening. In fact, he was staring at his sister, who had her feet propped up on a lab table and the latest issue of Vogue in her hands.

"Do you want me to go talk to her?" he asked Jess. He was obviously very concerned; otherwise, his head wouldn't be in his hands. Becker didn't do that unless he was stressed out. Not that she had paid a lot of attention to that.

"No, no," objected Jess as she took the file on the anomaly from beside Becker. He sat up, giving her a look. Jess rolled her eyes.

"Let her figure it out for herself, she explained, "otherwise, she won't listen to you in the future."

Becker nodded half-heartedly. He was glaring at his little sister, his mind obviously in another world. "Are you sure that-"

"Yes, Becker. Quite sure."

As soon as Becker left the hub (glaring at his sister before he exited, of course), Jess put her head in her hands. That man was going to drive her insane, he was. He was so moody and irrational and so bloody handsome. Why? Why did he have to be that way? Ugh, she felt a headache coming on. She needed some aspirin.

* * *

><p>Jess knocked on the door of the medical bay, peering through the door. "Excuse me?" she called. "Is there anyone there?" Since there was no response, Jess let herself in and looked through the medicine cabinet. No wonder Becker hadn't been able to find any adrenaline for her—the place was a mess. So, being who she was, Jess started organising it.<p>

First she organised them alphabetically, but when she noticed that the tall containers were intermixed with the short containers, she had to group them together by size. When that didn't please her, she arranged them by use. _There_, she thought, finally happy with her work.

Jess then remembered her throbbing head and the aspirin she had come to find. She dug through her nicely placed medicines until they were not so nicely placed anymore.

"Screw this," she said under her breath. "Just let the medics organize it."

She looked around for a cup to put some water in, and she fully took in how badly organised and not well prepared the bay was. She would have to talk to Lester about this. If she couldn't even find one blasted plastic cup, then how in the world was anyone supposed to find something in an emergency?

"Nurse Davies… I'm here for my medi— what are _you _doing here?"

Jess turned around, only to see Austin. Of course. Who else would be so rude? "Just getting some aspirin," she said, holding up the container as proof. "Did you want something?"

"I… uhh… was just looking for Nurse Davies." Austin rubbed her arm nervously. "I'll just… leave."

Austin turned to leave, but not before flashing Jess her forearm. "Hey… hey, what's this?" Jess grabbed her arm and turned it over. A large faint-red scar stretched from her bicep, before curving around her forearm, and surrounded by miniature scars.

Austin pulled her jacket sleeve down. "Please don't tell Hil," she pleaded before running out of the room.

Jess looked out the door after her, but she couldn't see the short girl. Sighing, she downed her aspirin, and wondered what exactly could have caused the scars, and why she didn't want anyone to see them.

* * *

><p>Of course, that evening, it was already out of her mind. She had flirted with Becker (although that did not turn out very well), done some research, and bought a pair of shoes online. Finally, she could go home to her flat and sleep. Her warm, cozy little flat with Mean Girls and leftover Chinese waiting for her. She dug for her keys in her purse, wanting to get in her pajamas and stuff her face. She must've looked through her bag at least six times before she realized that her house key must be back at the ARC. Which was seriously inconvenient. She knocked on the door, hoping that Abby and Connor would be there, but no one responded. So she did what any normal person would do; she looked for another way in.<p>

Jess looked through the windows to see if the locks were up on the door, when she noticed a light turn on. There _was_ someone there. Jess swore, if Abby was playing a trick on her, she would murder her.

She finally found an unlocked window and climbed her was through. _Today was not a good day to wear heels_, she thought as one got caught on the window frame. She tugged as hard as she could, but it was no use. This heel was going to have to be sacrificed. With one last tug, however, Jess violently tumbled through the window, hitting her head on a desk in the process.

"Ow," she moaned. "That really hurt." She took her hand from the back of her head only to see blood. Of course, this would only happen to her.

She heard footsteps running from the kitchen into the room and the light turned on overhead. She slowly sat up, squinting as the light pierced her eyes. "Abby, go get me some ice; my head really…" Instead of seeing Abby and her usual smirk, she looked up and saw someone dressed in all black, holding one of her father's golf clubs. "Oh my God, I really hit my head, didn't I?"

Becker threw the golf club to the side and crouched down next to Jess. "Are… are you okay?" He held Jess's head up. "What in the world were you doing?"

"I was… I think I was climbing into the house 'cause… 'cause I forgot my key at the ARC… and the window was open, so I climbed through it and my shoe got caught and… and the desk was being evil and hit my head and now it's bleeding 'cause the desk is evil and scratched my head." _Did I really just say that?_ she thought. According to the strange look on Becker's face, she had.

"I called Abby and she said you were going home with her."

"She… rode with Connor to go look at… a venue." Jess found her vision starting to blur. "Can you drive me… to the hospital now?"

Becker nodded his head and helped her up, taking her arm the entire way to his truck. Once inside, Becker put his coat around her (she was burning up, but she didn't object) and drove as fast as he could to the nearest hospital.

* * *

><p>Jess blinked at the bright light in her face. "Becker…" she mumbled, "turn off the light. My head hurts. I want aspirin. Or a new head."<p>

She blinked to see that she, in fact, was not in Becker's car anymore. The room she was in was very bright (which wasn't helping anything) and covered in white. She then saw the source of the light in her eyes: a torch that the doctor was holding right in front of her face. She held her hand up in front of her face, blocking out the piercing light giving her a migraine.

"Good; you're awake," the doctor told her. "You have a minor concussion and a small scratch on the back of your head. Nothing major, but it should take a few days to heal. You'll be fine to work, but don't work if you don't feel good."

Jess nodded as she sat up. So she was okay, wasn't she? A concussion wasn't that bad. Becker could take care of her. He would make sure she wasn't too overworked or anything. Speaking of him…

"Where's Becky?" Oh my God. She did _not_ just say that. Becky? Really? She must've hit her head extremely hard on that desk. The doctor gave her a strange look, before realizing just what she meant and made a nurse go call him from the waiting room.

He marched to her side, and crouched down so he could see her face. "Feeling better, Jess?"

She nodded her head, and grabbed his arm. "Becker, I need to ask you a very important question."

He gave her a quizzical look. "Oh? And what is that question?"

"Why were you in my flat?"

Becker shook his head and smiled at himself, which Jess found ridiculous. Why not just answer the question? It would be a lot easier for the both of them. And, quite honestly, she was really nosey. He sighed, and said, "I was returning your house key."

Jess smiled before breaking into a laugh. "So it was _you_ who got me into this whole mess!" she cried, hitting him in the chest. "Why didn't you just call me? Or Abby?"

"Because Abby said you were going home with her, so I thought I would come over and surprise you. Try to get a good scare out of the both of you. But," he looked at the ground, "that obviously didn't go as planned."

Jess giggled at Becker. The thought of him breaking and entering just to return a key was playing over and over again in her mind. It was almost as funny as her getting a concussion trying to break into her own house. But that was just how Jess was. She always had to win, even if it meant being the most stupid.

"Becker, you're funny," she stated nonchalantly. Okay, something really weird was going on. She wasn't saying this; it wasn't going through her mind first. No, it had to be the medicine talking. Of course, no one had given her any medicine, but if they had, it so would have been the cause of her craziness.

"I know, Jess, I know," was Becker's reply. "Now, let's get you home."

* * *

><p>"Becker?"<p>

"Yes?"

"What made you decide to become a soldier?"

Jess looked away from the window to glance at her companion, who looked like he was having a hard time thinking.

"I…I guess it was my dad," he said, almost unsure of himself. "I always kind of looked up to him as a kid. Like how all the little boys want to think that their dad is the best and most heroic person ever, you know?"

Jess nodded. "I was the youngest of four, and all my older brothers wanted to be my dad when they grew up. He was a fireman, you know. Always playing the hero. One of my brothers, Tommy, he actually became a fireman because of him." Becker chuckled, and Jess nudged him playfully. "What?"

He laughed at himself again, before glancing over at Jess, then back at the road. "I can't believe you have three older brothers."

"Why not?" Jess swatted his shoulder again. "I can be tough when I want to be!"

"Yeah, maybe at a shoe sale, when the last pair of pink pumps are about to go to a middle-aged woman wearing a jean skirt."

"That is _not_ true!" Jess scoffed. "They were blue wedges and she was wearing a polyester pantsuit, thank you very much."

At which point, neither of them could stop laughing.

**M'kay, so let's get down to business.**

**I apologize for being SO INCREDIBLY LATE. I'm so sorry. I had this chapter done in February, but my computer crashed and I couldn't upload it. Then, I finally got a new computer, and rewrote the chapter on OpenOffice. My dad, however, decided to get Word on my new computer and DELETED ALL MY OPENOFFICE DOCUMENTS! And then one of my friends died, so I couldn't exactly write happy things with all that was going on. But here I am. And no matter how short and crappy this chapter may be, IT IS HERE AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS.**

**I hope you enjoyed my rant, and, of course, the story. It is beginning to develop, and the original ending I had planned isn't going to turn out exactly how I planned. Oh well.**

**Hope to upload the next chapter soon!**

**Ciao bellas,**

**iWantARocketshipToMars **


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